PASADENA, Calif. – For the first time in three years, it appears the college football landscape has finally settled.

Thanks to a basketball conference, of all things.

The ACC’s new grant of rights television deal—tying all 14 teams and Notre Dame into a long-term revenue sharing contract—has leveled off further realignment. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, whose conference presidents have been “evaluating” the conference landscape, said Tuesday further Big Ten expansion is unlikely.

“Given everything that has gone on, yes,” Delany said when asked about the ACC’s deal cementing the current five major conferences to their respective lineups.

Although Delany said the 16-team superconference format was also “an arbitrary number” that he wasn’t part of, the Big Ten was open to further expansion. One industry source told Sporting News in February if the Big Ten expanded further to destabilize the ACC, the SEC would counter by going after North Carolina and Duke —and therefore mortally wounding the ACC.

But the ACC’s grant of rights deal, massaged through skeptical ACC university presidents by commissioner John Swofford, forces ACC schools to relinquish television revenue to the ACC for the duration of the 14-year contract if they were to leave for another conference.

There still is the possibility that a team from the SEC (Missouri) could leave for the Big Ten—the SEC has no grant of rights or exit fee—but that’s a pipedream, at best.

“This further highlights continued solidarity and commitment by our member institutions,” Swofford said.

What he didn’t say was it saved the game from eating itself. Realignment already had destroyed one league (Big East) and was on the verge of making another (ACC) irrelevant—and leaving major college sports with four conferences that matter.

A move of that magnitude certainly could have led to many more unintended consequences: the Big Four pulling away and forming their own league, lawsuits, the breakdown of amateur sports. Instead, Swofford began his spring to remember by landing an agreement with the Orange Bowl as an anchor bowl, with Notre Dame as a non-football playing member (but getting scheduling priorities with the Irish), and securing the grant of rights deal with the ACC’s university presidents.

Getting the GOR deal meant Swofford had to convince a handful of presidents who were not actively looking to leave the ACC—but certainly keeping options open—that the ACC could be just as big and profitable as the other four major conferences. According to industry sources, three of those schools were Florida State, Clemson and NC State.